


The Best Christmas Present Ever

by BlueEagle



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Alternate Universe - Muggle, Christmas fic, F/M, University, WDSWolfnoote, wolfnoote
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-01
Updated: 2021-01-01
Packaged: 2021-03-11 05:28:33
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,935
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28479936
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BlueEagle/pseuds/BlueEagle
Summary: James and Lily are in Medical School in Scotland. He is taking her back home to meet his parents for the first time, on Christmas Eve.
Relationships: Euphemia Potter/Fleamont Potter, James Potter/Lily Evans Potter
Comments: 4
Kudos: 20
Collections: Wolfnoote





	The Best Christmas Present Ever

**Author's Note:**

  * For [jilylicious](https://archiveofourown.org/users/jilylicious/gifts).



> For the wonderful Jilylicious, who loves University AUs, even though this can't really count as one.

Lily Evans was feeling nervous. It was the Big Day. She looked across the small table at James, whose leg was jiggling while he chewed his lip and stared out of the window of the train that was hurtling through the Lake District, taking them to James’s house for Christmas.

“Will you relax? It’s me who should be nervous, not you,” Lily said, a note of worry in her voice. It was the first time James would be introducing her to his parents, and she felt she had an awful lot to live up to. Her boyfriend was the son of a World-renowned psychiatrist and her husband, an almost household name in dermatology. Lily had met James in medical school, where she was working towards being a psychiatrist, and James was hoping to go into General Practice. In stark contrast to him, she had grown up on a council estate, where finishing high school was thought to be a high aspiration, and University was only for the posh twats from the West End. Lily’s parents had been so proud, and worked hard to help her with her fees and rent as much as possible. Even so, Lily had to work almost every spare hour she had available to pay the rent for her tiny bedroom. James’s parents, of course, had bought a flat for him and his best friend in the nicest area of the city. 

Lily’s sister had married young, and would belittle Lily at any opportunity for pursuing a career. She thought Lily looked down her nose at the rest of the family and took it as a personal affront that Lily hadn’t followed in her footsteps.

Lily knew she wasn’t good enough for James, and although he always treated her like the Queen of England, she worried that his parents would see her as completely beneath him. No matter how much James assured her to the contrary, her old friend’s words echoed in her mind from the last time she had seen him.

_He’s just using you, Lily. He wants to slum it for a while, and then he’ll knock you up and dump you, and you’ll have to come back home and live like the scum you think the rest of us are, that you know you are too._

She had ended the friendship after this. It had been painful and difficult, and she had been scared to go back to see her parents since, preferring to meet them for the odd weekend when she didn’t have work, placement, or an exam.

James reached over and took her hand, squeezing it gently. His smile didn’t hide the obvious anxiety from his face, and Lily wondered for the hundredth time if he was embarrassed by her.

“You don’t need to be nervous,” he reassured her. “They’ll love you! How could they not?” He managed a large grin before letting go of her hand and checking his watch. His leg resumed its bouncing. “We’ll be there in about half an hour. I’ll call mum and let her know to set off.”

  
  


The meeting at the station went well. Lily was immediately put at ease by the warmth with which Prof. Potter (“Goodness, call me Mia!”) embraced her and started chatting non-stop about the ridiculous hobbies her husband had taken on in the last year. James’s dad had always had a reputation for being eccentric, and the stories told by James and Mia made Lily feel lucky to be meeting the man.

The drive to the Potters’ house took only 20 minutes. They lived in a large 17th Century house, surrounded by fields and stone walls. Chickens walked freely around the garden and strings of lights were hung from the gutters.

James insisted on carrying all of the bags, and Mia linked her arm with Lily’s and rolled her eyes.

“Come in, Lily. You can meet Monty and we can have a cup of tea and some cake. Does that sound good?” Mia asked, opening the door which was adorned with a beautiful pine cone wreath. Lily grinned warmly at her and nodded. “That would be lovely.”

As they walked into the kitchen, Lily was surprised to find herself in some approximation of a greenhouse. There were plants everywhere, covering the windowsills and hanging from the ceiling. Lily looked around at them and Mia sighed as she filled up the kettle.

“It’s plants just now. Monty is collecting them. Goodness knows what will happen when he gets bored and moves onto something else. The garden looked like a graveyard for gnomes when he got sick of collecting them.”

James followed behind the two women, trying hard to hide the heavy panting from overloading himself. The man that could only be James’s father came in from the other door. If Lily had ever wondered what James would look like in 40 years or so (and she had, though she would never admit it) then she had her question answered. They had the same unruly hair, the same nose, and even the same dimple when they smiled.

He clapped his son on the back and held his hand out to Lily.

“Monty Potter, lovely to meet you! You must be the Jennifer we’ve been hearing all about!” he said, shaking her hand enthusiastically.

“Um,” Lily said, confused for a second before Mia swatted at her husband and James buried his head in his hands, groaning “Daaaaaad!”

“Behave yourself, or you’ll be banished to the shed,” Mia waved a finger at Monty with a fond scowl. “Go and get some cake out and make yourself useful. James, take Lily upstairs and show her where she’ll be sleeping. Get yourselves comfortable and come down for a drink.”

James took Lily’s hand and led her upstairs, taking her into his bedroom and apologising for the posters of S-Club 7 on the wall. He put their bags down and took her into his arms, kissing her gently.

“See, nothing to be nervous about. They’re just parents!” he said, stepping back and taking her face in his hands. She smiled and moved his hands, though kept them in hers.

“Your mum wrote some of my text books, James!” Lily said, laughing slightly, though she had to agree. The Potters had been nothing but welcoming.

The pair freshened up and returned downstairs, where a steaming pot of tea and some Christmas cake was waiting. They spent the afternoon chatting and getting to know each other. Lily was surprised to see how down-to-Earth the Potters were, considering their wealth and accomplishments. Monty wouldn’t hear of it when Lily tried to help tidy the dishes, and lectured her good-naturedly on the importance of treating guests like guests, and that only members of the family would be put to work. He winked at her and told James to help his mother with the sheets.

James was gone for some time, enough for Monty to talk Lily through all of his plants and from where he had acquired them. When Mia and James returned, Lily thought they both looked like they had been crying. She would have been more concerned, if she hadn’t seen James cry at pretty much everything with the slightest bit of emotion, including, at one point, the weather forecast.

The three Potters and Lily had a wonderful evening, ordering Chinese food, as was tradition on Christmas Eve, apparently, and watching The Snowman and reruns of The Vicar of Dibley. They all retired to bed around 11pm and Lily and James fell asleep almost instantly, tired from the early start and long train ride.

Christmas morning was magical. Lily felt equally delighted and embarrassed when she found a stocking hung at the end of the bed with her name on it, full of chocolates, toiletries, and, for some reason, a clementine. James opened his with the same expression one would expect from a 6 year old, not a 22 year old. They wished each other a happy Christmas, dressed in comfortable lounging clothes and went downstairs to the smell of coffee and croissants.

Mia and Monty were already up and ready for the day.

“Happy Christmas! We’ve had our breakfast, love,” Mia said to James. “We’re going to go out for our walk, then we can do presents.” She gave James a pointed look.

“Happy Christmas!” Lily and James echoed back, everyone giving each other a hug before Mia and Monty donned their warm coats and wellies and disappeared.

James directed Lily to a soft armchair and asked her to sit while he brought her breakfast. She laughed. “I could get used to this!” she joked, settling back and listening to him clanging around in the kitchen. He returned with the coffee and warm croissants, and she noticed his hair was even messier than usual. He kept smiling at her then wringing his hands, only stopping when he realised he was doing it.

“Um, Lily? Can I give you one of your presents now?” James asked, running his hand through his hair. Lily wondered if it was something embarrassing, given his demeanour and the fact he’d clearly wanted his parents not to witness it.

She put her coffee aside and looked at him apprehensively. “Okaaaay, but it better not be something like last year. If it’s something that will get you excited by me wearing it, then I don’t want to know!” she laughed, remembering the previous year where he had thought it was a good idea to give her a “sexy nurse” outfit. She hadn’t expected his face to fall like it did.

“Well, I would, but not like last year,” he said, trying to laugh but only managing a weak chuckle.

Lily thought it would be best to put the poor man out of his misery. “Go on then, you numpty,” she said, waving through to the Christmas tree, under which they had placed their gifts the previous evening. He took her hand and brought her with him to the magnificent tree with twinkling lights.

James picked up a small box, not from under the tree, but from behind a picture of his parents on the mantelpiece. Lily’s heart jumped to her mouth as she watched her boyfriend drop to one knee and hold the box open.

“Lily Evans, you are the kindest, smartest, and most beautiful woman I have ever had the luck of knowing. If you agree, I will spend the rest of my life trying to make myself worthy of you, though I know that I could never be achieved. Will you marry me?”

Lily was stunned. She had been with James for two years, and she knew he was The One. But she never felt worthy of him, never mind the other way around.

Her answer came quickly and confidently. She didn’t need to think it through.

“Yes, of course!” she said happily, pulling him towards her and kissing him hard on the mouth. When she pulled away, she was looking into awestruck eyes. James’s mouth was hanging open and he looked like he had been frozen.

Slowly, a grin started forming. He held out his hand for hers, and he slipped the ring on her finger. It had been his grandmother’s, he explained, and he had known she was perfect since she had first called him an idiot for disrupting one of their first year classes. He knew he was babbling, but the excitement couldn’t be contained.

Lily shut him up by kissing him again, slowly and passionately. This time, when they broke away, James only said one thing.

“This is the best Christmas present ever.”


End file.
